


Burden Of The Job

by BrokenBookAddict



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Co-workers, Dating, Developing Relationship, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Feelings, First Dates, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Humor, Implied Sexual Content, Love, Romance, Sex, Smut, Snowells Week 2019, Workplace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-05-18 14:13:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19336150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrokenBookAddict/pseuds/BrokenBookAddict
Summary: In a moment between friends while on a stakeout, Caitlin suggests something that will change everything.





	Burden Of The Job

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own the flash.
> 
> For day 7 of Snowells week, free theme.

The back door to the van opens and Caitlin doesn't need to take her eyes off the screen in front of her to know that Harry is back with coffee. Sitting down beside her, Harry tosses his ball cap onto the desk in front of him and places a to-go cup down in front of her as well as a small bag.

Shooting him a grateful look, she lifts the cup to her lips, letting out a happy sigh as she does. "You're a life saver, you know that right?" She says while shaking her cup at him to make her point before gesturing at the little bag he also gave her. "What's this?"

Harry unbuttons his jacket leaning back in his chair, his eyes watching the screens in front of him. "Those cookies that you and Jesse are always raving about."

Caitlin snatches up the bag and looks inside, letting out a soft moan that has Harry shifting uncomfortably in his chair, which isn't a strange reaction around her lately, her next words doesn't help him any either.

"I could kiss you for these," she pauses when she realises what she just said, that she had indeed said it out loud and rushes to back track. "I mean, I didn't mean literally..."

Harry smirks, raising his hand to stop her from digging herself into a bigger hole. "Stop, I know what you meant."

"Oh, good." She sighs in relief before tilting the bag towards him, offering him one. She watches as he raises an eyebrow in surprise knowing that neither Jesse or Caitlin are particularly quick to share their new found love of Jitters new cookies, so tentatively he reaches into the bag and randomly picked one out before she can change her mind. Nodding his head in thanks, they both go back to watching the monitors, looking for any sign of their suspect.

It is a few minutes later when Caitlin speaks again. "I've just realised that all the times I've been on one of these stake outs, this is the first with you. Normally I'm trapped in here with Cisco, though there was that one time with Iris and Jesse which one nice even though it involved taking down Zoom.... and of course the time with Dr Wells... evil Wells that is not you of course."

Harry smiles and lifts his cup, tilting it to her and she tape hers against his, her eyes confused until he says sarcastically, "happy first stake out, Snow."

Caitlin's phone chooses that moment to beep and vibrate on the table in front of them, stopping her from saying anything in reply to his teasing. Picking up the phone she opens the text, a cringe appearing on her face as she reads something on the screen.

Harry immediately notices. "Is something wrong?" he asks concerned.

Caitlin shakes her head, her fingers tapping the screen as she deletes the message and places her phone back down. "Nothing is wrong exactly, I just, I have a date tonight."

Harry's eyebrows lift at that, his eyes checking the time on the monitor to see it is 9.40 pm already. "A late date? You might still make it if our guy shows up."

Caitlin shakes her head, her eyes dropping to her coffee cup cradled in her hands. "The date was over two hours ago, that text was actually the guy thanking me for standing him up."

Harry looks at her, seeing that she isn't exactly unhappy at missing the date. Taking a different route, he nudges her elbow with his and teases gently, "Caitlin Snow, heartbreaker of all men." He succeedes in his teasing when she laughs softly turning to look at him.

"Dr Caitlin Snow, remember." She retorts back, flicking her eyes to meet his before dropping them to stare at his coat buttons. "I just... Do you ever feel like what we do is a burden?"

Harry turnshakes in his seat more to face herself, his fexpression curious at her choice of words. "What do you mean, by burden?"

Caitlin shrugs as she searches for the right words to explain herself. "What we do here, with the team and Barry at Star labs is fantastic and I absolutely love being a part of that but sometimes when I think about meeting someone, doing the whole dating thing, it feels like it would be such an effort." She explains, looking a little fraught. "How would I explain my work? The fact I work such long hours, that sometimes I never even go home or the fact that I could be called away at any moment."

Harry nods, understanding her words completely as he takes a sip of his coffee. "I understand what you mean. The burden of keeping what we do from someone, of making excuses about having to leave in the middle of a date or having to cancel plans at the last minute. I can definitely understand how it would definitely weigh heavy on someone."

"Yeah, that's exactly it." Caitlin hums more to herself than anything, then lets out a little laugh as she rolls her head on the back of her chair in his direction. "Maybe we should date," she says jokingly, her eyes teasing. She loves that she gets to see this Harry, the more relaxed side, he doesn't seem to allow himself to do it around anyone other than her and Jesse, and for the last few weeks she'd found that curious.

It takes Harry a minute to realise that she actually did say what she had. He tries to ignore that little feeling that had been fluttering within him the last few weeks when he's around her and just decides to play along.

"Is that your way of asking me out on a date, Dr Snow?"

Caitlin shrugs, offering him a small smile. "It kinda makes sense, we both know the situation given that we work together..." she trails off as her hazel gaze flicker over him, scanning his body. Her eyes tease and her voice takes on a breathy quality when she continues. "Plus you are kinda handsome if I squint hard enough and those blue eyes of yours definitely work in your favour."

Harry hides his smile at her teasing and mock scowls back at her causing her to giggle. This whole stakeout is taking a surprising turn. "You really need to work on your compliments," he tells her, pausing as his eyes consider her the same way hers had moments ago but much more critically which causes her to frown. "You are kinda pretty, so I could perhaps take one for the team."

"Take one for the team, huh?" Caitlin scoffs lightly. They stare at one another for what feels like a lifetime.

"So..." Harry starts, his heart pounding as he takes a risk. "For science sake,"

She interrupts him curious as to where he's going with this. "Like an experiment?"

"Exactly, because we are... you know, scientists." Harry nods, pointing his finger at her then at him. "What do you say we try it?" His finger motions between the two of them. "Me and you, a date. We could have dinner."

Caitlin's heart hammers in her chest. What started as a playful comment, has taken a serious turn. She ponders over his words, thinking to herself could she see herself on a date with him, with  _Harry_. And she could, there's always been that little annoying voice in the back of her mind, that likes to remind her at random times, that she does in fact find him attractive, that she enjoys his company when the team all hang out together, that she likes talking with him. She also has to ignore the voice when it pops to the forefront of her mind and wonders what it would be like to kiss him.

Taking a deep breath, Caitlin nods slowly. "I'd like that." She smirks then as an idea pops into her head. "As long as I can choose the restaurant, knowing you we'd land up in Big Belly Burger."

Harry smiles and agrees. "Deal." He didn't realised he had been holding his breath until she had given her answer. "And there's nothing wrong with Big Belly Burger."

Caitlin smiles at his defensive words of his favourite fast food joint. "We're still not having dinner there, Harry."

"Shame."

They share a smile and like the conversation had started with Caitlin mentioning how work sometimes gets in the way, alerts ring out around the van as the monitors pick up movement of their suspect meta human.  Just like that, all thought about their upcoming date is pushed aside for the time being, their job taking over but for once it doesn't feel to Caitlin like the burden it sometimes does, because she knows that Harry is right beside her every step of the way....

Thursday night comes around and as always, work intervenes so they have to cancel their dinner reservation and instead, compromises on takeout, both of them being too tired after a long and busy day to venture out into a busy restaurant. As Harry had requested, Caitlin presents herself at the door to his rooms at nine thirty precisely. He's slides it open to see her standing there, having changed from the dress she'd been wearing all day, to know where she is clad in skinny jeans and a knitted sweater. Even though it's a more casual look than what she usually wears, it still does things to him that he's trying to ignore. In her hand, she holds  bottle of wine which she kindly offers to him when she crosses over the threshold into his rooms. He leads her over to the table that is set up over on one side of the room, already set and laden with takeout bags from her favourite Thai place that he'd picked up. He waves away any offer of assistance and tells her to relax, pointing to the wine bottle and glasses already set out.

Dinner passes by rather smoothly, more smoothly than either of them expects. They talk as they ate, about everything and anything. Topics ranging from the work they are both doing when not fighting metas, to the team, then to Jesse and Wally settling into their relationship. Caitlin laughs at his still obvious discomfort at the pairing. Harry is clearly still working on getting used to the idea of his little girl growing up. Just like Harry had, Caitlin offers up bits about her life, about her difficult relationship with her mother, her heartache of losing her dad and about Ronnie. They skip over the whole Zoom episode, not wanting to dredge up bad memories for either of them regarding that. They had suffered enough. They also talk about her powers, how she is doing now that she has complete control over them.

The hours drift by, the couple finding themselves on the sofa, each at the opposite end. Shoes discarded on the floor, Caitlin curls her legs under her as she sits sideways on the sofa facing Harry. Cradling her glass of wine in one hand, the other props up her head on the back of the couch.

"What?" Harry can feel her eyes on him.

"Nothing," Caitlin replies, shaking her head. "Tonight has been really nice, I did worry that it would be awkward but it hasn't been."

"You sound surprised." He meets her eyes, his azure gaze intense as he looks at her. "And I hope that isn't a bad thing."

"It's not. I really have had a nice time tonight with you."

He can clearly see she's being sincere.

Harry nods, falling silent. His eyes never leave hers, his mind fullmof only one thought, of the one thing that he's been thinking about since he opened his door to her tonight and saw her standing there. Making up his mind, he drains the remainder of his wine before setting the glass on the coffee table. Taking a deep breath, he moves across the couch until his side pressed against her knees. Gently removing the glass from her hand, he sets it beside his. Lifting his gaze, his eyes meet her.

"Would you want to do this again, sometime?" he asks quietly, hesitantly, waiting on her answer and hoping she will say yes.

"Yes." She can see the relief in his blue eyes at her answer. Caitlin is just as glad as he is. "Definitely."

"Good." Harry nods, his eyes flickering over her face, settling on her lips before lifting back up to hers. He so wants to kiss her and he has a feeling she knows that.

Her heart is pounding and Caitlin offers him a small shy smile. "You don't need permission, you know." Is all she says, knowing he will understand what she is referring too.

He's right, she does know. "Good to know." He stares at her for a few moments longer, his hand rising to rest on her knee before slowly sliding up and setting on her thigh. His fingers squeeze gently as he leans forward, Caitlin's lips part just as his make contact. It was so gentle, barely any pressure behind the kiss as his lips brushed over hers. Her hand runs up his arm to rest on his shoulder, fingers curling into his shirt when he pulls back.

"Is this okay?" His mouth millimetres from hers.

"It's more than okay." Caitlin barely nods, her voice slightly breathless. "Don't stop."

And unlike before, when his lips takes hers for second time there is nothing gentle about it. He moves with the hunger he feels for her, his intensity overpowering as his tongue slips into her mouth, slowly battling hers. They soon lose themselves in the kiss and their positions changes. Caitlin's legs slip out from under her as Harry moves over her, resting above her, his weight braced on his forearms as he settles between her thighs.

Caitlin's body feels like it's on fire and he hasn't really done anything other than kiss her so far but when his mouth moves away from hers, trailing his kisses over her jaw into the crook of her neck, his hips rocked involuntary against hers causing Caitlin to gasp, feeling him hard against her. His mouth settled against her ear, his breathing just as unsteady as her own.

"I'm sorry, I know it's only our first date..." Harry starts unsure, willing himself to say what he wants to ask, his breath warm against her ear.

Yet Caitlin interrupts him. "Yes." She doesn't need him to finish to know what he wants to ask. If she would stay. Clearly pleased at her answer, his mouth finds hers ince more, her fingers start in on his buttons, slowly undoing his shirt.

Losing themselves in each other, Caitlin is never more grateful for the burden that her job sometimes feels like. Without that feeling she wouldn't be here right now with Harry, discovering all these new things about him, getting to know him more personally and intiayely. Discovering and enjoying how his touch seems to set her body on alight.

If this is how the first date ends, she cannot wait for the second or third or forth...

The end.

　

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> And that concludes my submissions for this year's Snowells week. Thank you so much everyone for reading, commenting and leaving kudos. It means more than you know. 
> 
> Never doubt that more Snowells will come, until next time ....


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